Startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

MAYNARD WEBB: About 20% of our portfolio companies have gone through accelerator programs. We all know incubators have spun out huge breakouts, as evidenced by Instacart, Airbnb and Dropbox. Yet, many startups never considered joining an accelerator program. So, what’s the right path? Incubators offer access to investors and seasoned execs. They also provide an important community. As various accelerators have matured, they have produced vibrant and increasingly accomplished alumni networks, which are filled with other founders who can offer advice from what they went through two years ago. … Read More »

Jonathan Axelrod, co-founder of Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator: The team behind an accelerator has the most impact on a company’s experience in the program — this includes the partners and staff who run it day-to-day and the mentor network surrounding the program. These are the people who will be working with you in the trenches to help your company succeed. When possible, you should go meet the team and people and startups that have worked with them. Make sure they’re the ones you want to work with to build your business. Check that the mentor network and community surrounding an accelerator have the strength and experience in industries and functional areas you care about, including relevant geographies. … Read More »

Fred Mouawad, portfolio entrepreneur and co-guardian of the Mouawad jewelry business: In the digital age, there is a stigma that employees overusing the Internet and other digital technologies are less productive than those who don’t spend as much time there. But according to a recent Pew study, 46% of working adults feel their productivity has increased due to the Internet, email and cell phones. This is likely due to many factors, such as easier and faster communication, the agility of instantaneous information and enriched tools for staying organized and auditing various projects. As a portfolio entrepreneur, I have found numerous ways to be more productive using technology — here are some ways to utilize technology to you and your business’s advantage. … Read More »

Alex Buttle, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Top10: Technologies such as search engine optimization and Google AdWords may not seem like the sexiest tools, but they are revolutionary for startups. How so? They’ve created a level playing field, allowing even the youngest upstarts to immediately stand alongside the behemoths in their fields — if they do it right. Gone are the days when companies had no choice but to spend half their marketing budgets on billboards and glossy magazine advertisements, with little to no information on how many, or even if, these ads converted to customers. Today, analytics are a powerful tool that startups all too often ignore. Read More »

Douglas Merrill, founder and CEO of ZestFinance: Human nature says the best way to find out what customers want is simply to ask them. That leads startups to spend a ton of time and investment on focus groups and surveys, believing that the insights gained will tell them exactly what customers want. The problem is that customers usually do not know what they want and are unable to imagine things that are truly new. Instead of asking customers what they want, measure what they actually do. Almost all marketing and sales interactions generate digital exhaust. Real exhaust smells gross; digital exhaust smells like future success. Formulate hypotheses, then test them in the market to measure customers’ actual behavior. … Read More »

Mario Schlosser, co-founder and CEO of Oscar Insurance: Old-school was our bet on out-of-home media. Our Silicon Valley-based investors cringed when we started advertising in the New York City subways. But today, 28% of our leads come through subway ads (and the subways are now full of startup ads). You don’t buy something as meaningful as insurance only because you saw an online banner. But an old-fashioned out-of-home campaign built trust. At first glance, the world of supposedly slow-moving out-of-home media looks very different from the world of fast-moving online ads. But what’s interesting is that those worlds are becoming increasingly interconnected. … Read More »

Katja Gagen, VP of marketing at General Catalyst: Startups should always seek to leverage innovation rather than employing a cash-hungry tool. Think “guerrilla marketing” and take to the streets. Founders and teams should use their personal networks, time and energy to promote the business and brand. Companies in the enterprise space can focus on thought leadership to spread the word. Major chunks of cash are likely better reserved for making a great product. That doesn’t mean your startup marketing budget is zero – expect to spend something. But spend it wisely and where it will do the most good. Paying a few hundred dollars for ads on potential high-impact social media platforms, where good messages can go viral, is a sensible approach. Remember: startups are early adopters who can afford to experiment. And they should. Pick the next platform where consumers hang out and it can pay off. … Read More »

Chris Myers, co-founder and CEO of BodeTree: The decision to ramp up marketing spend has the potential to make or break any organization. While every business is different, there are core concepts that always hold true. Every single entrepreneur, regardless of industry, size or sophistication needs to understand product/market fit, customer acquisition cost and customer service before spending heavily on marketing. Only then can you make sure that the effort and resources you put toward marketing your product or service will pay off. … Read More »

David Ramadge, Director of Entrepreneurship at eBay: Alternative financing like crowdfunding can take a great idea from obscurity to celebrity in a matter of weeks. But the leap from prototyping to manufacturing, managing supply chains or even the basic blocking and tackling of running a profitable business, breaks more young companies than makes them. I see this challenge every day at eBay, where I work with entrepreneurs and budding startups who are looking to convert demand (and hype) into meaningful sales and revenue. Many have just met their fundraising goals and are getting great early interest from Big Box retailers – so their minds immediately jump to how it will work when they’re shipping hundreds of thousands of units. But that future looks a lot different than the present – scrappily putting together marketing materials and personally hand packaging every item. … Read More »

Julie Sygiel, founder of Dear Kate: Virtually all bloggers will write about your product for the right amount of money. It usually depends on the size of their readership and occasionally how much they personally like the product. However, the moment the word “sponsored” is associated with a blog post, it not only dilutes the message, but it could be detrimental. Millennials in particular have grown up in an era oversaturated with advertisements. Knowing that a company has paid for a review often introduces an element of doubt. A company can’t buy credibility or coolness anymore. In most cases, paying for sponsored blog coverage sends a signal to readers that the product or service isn’t interesting enough to be covered on sheer merit. … Read More »

About The Accelerators

For aspiring or actual entrepreneurs, The Accelerators forum is a lively discussion among startup mentors– entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists. To reach us: @wsjstartup or theaccelerators@wsj.com.